


First Times

by Sheeana



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M, Gen, Post-Canon, Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-02
Updated: 2013-05-02
Packaged: 2017-12-10 04:22:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/781722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sheeana/pseuds/Sheeana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the war, Solana Vakarian gets a visit from her brother.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Times

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Selkit](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Selkit/gifts).



> This is set after the third game, but I tweaked the ending slightly so Shepard lived and the Geth also survived. I hope that's okay!

"You look _good_ ," was the first thing Solana Vakarian thought to say, when her brother walked through the doors to her room in the medical facility. 

"Same old Solana," Garrus said dryly. His arm was suspended in a sling, hanging uselessly. There was a scar along one side of his face, and not the side that had been injured the last time he tried to save the galaxy, or the smallest, darkest part of it he could find. He seemed to be trying to hide a slight limp. Solana was surprised they weren't sending him home in multiple boxes, after what she'd heard about where he'd been.

"No, I mean it. You look good for someone who was dead." It had been three days before they told her, after the Battle of Earth. The Normandy and its crew, vanished into nothingness after the blinding wave of light from the Citadel. The usual condolences and reassurances that Garrus had died in service to his people, upholding his Turian honor. She hadn't been surprised then. Saddened, but not surprised.

"It was only two weeks," he protested. "Then we fixed the Normandy and got off that planet."

"I know. I think everyone in the galaxy knows." It was like Garrus to go out fighting. It was also like Garrus to come back after facing impossible odds.

"You look good too," he said, eyeing her up and down. Her wristplate was cracked, but mending slowly after several liberal applications of medi-gel. She had a deep wound on her side that had been cleaned, bandaged, and knit together. It still ached sharply every time she tried to move. Her broken leg, at least, had been dealt with quickly enough that she could already put weight on it again. It would still be weeks before she could return to her job. If she wasn't aware of how much work there was to be done after the Reaper invasion, she might not have felt so restless.

"Thanks." She tried to sit up and winced, her hand going to her side. She knew exactly how _good_ she looked.

"How'd you get that?" Garrus asked. He nodded at the spot she was holding, or maybe at her wrist, or her leg.

"There was an attack on the Archives. I did what I had to."

"Now that's the sister I know and love. Can you walk? White walls, no windows... must be boring, staying in here."

"Not everyone spends their time sniping criminals and saving the galaxy." Solana let Garrus give her a hand and help her to her feet. She needed a crutch to hobble alongside him, but the change in scenery would be welcome. The soft lighting and white walls of the facility might help speed recovery, but Garrus was right. They weren't the most interesting things to look at.

They walked together down the empty, austere hall of the medical facility. Solana had to move slowly, but Garrus didn't seem to feel any urge to speed up. She got the sense he was in as much pain as she was, but he was more accustomed to living with it. Archivists didn't fight in many battles. Crewmembers of the Normandy were probably used to them by now.

"I heard Shepard was found," said Solana, as they walked together. A few medical staff passed them, but left them alone. Patients were encouraged to receive visitors and move around within the facility. Even if they weren't, Solana suspected someone might be willing to look the other way for Garrus Vakarian, and that had to be the strangest, most surreal thought she'd ever had.

"She's on her feet again now. For awhile, it was..." But Garrus didn't finish whatever intimate revelation he'd been about to say. Solana nudged his arm, withholding an amused twitch of her jaw. He was always like this when he talked about Shepard, since he came back after his second adventure with her.

"You know, Garrus, I never thought you'd fall for a human." It didn't take someone with amazing skills of perception to see that Shepard had changed Garrus. He wasn't the angry young Garrus he'd been years ago, when he left to join C-Sec. He wasn't even the even angrier, bitter Garrus he'd been after Shepard's apparent death, or the calmer, more confident Garrus who had come back before the war to try to prepare Palaven for the Reapers. This Garrus knew his place in the galaxy. Solana could never fault anyone who gave her brother that.

"Who told you- I never said anything about-" he said, practically spluttering.

"Don't even try. I'm your sister." 

"Well, you know how it is, saving the galaxy together..."

"That might work on her, but it doesn't work on me," Solana said flatly. "I knew you when you were about this tall." She made a gesture with her hand, just above her knees. "I know all your tricks."

"She's, uh, she's... nice..."

"Garrus."

"She's Shepard," he said, as if that explanation enough. His nervous embarrassment seemed to melt away all at once.

"My brother Garrus Vakarian, and Commander Shepard, saviors of the galaxy. Who ever would have believed that?"

"Not you," Garrus said dryly. "If I remember what happened right-"

"I already said I'm sorry for that," Solana said sharply. They'd exchanged a few terse messages she wouldn't mind taking back, if she could go back and change things. "It was hard, with you gone and Mom sick and Dad... you know how Dad is."

"Yeah, I know how Dad is."

"I'm glad you came back."

"And so am I. If there's one thing I can say I'm glad I never did, it's probably "die a horrible death while fighting the Reapers." Or... the Geth, or the Collectors..."

"Same old Garrus."

They stopped in front of one of the rectangular windows overlooking the city. The capital had been moved to one of the major cities of a less devastated region, but the war had left its mark everywhere on Palaven. A long stretch of scorched buildings and land across part of the city reminded Solana that it was only weeks ago that everything had seemed lost.

"It's going to take a long time to rebuild," she said quietly.

"At least we can rebuild. Not everywhere was so lucky."

"This is what you call lucky?"

Garrus shook his head, and Solana knew from experience not to pursue it. Palaven had been hard-hit, but he'd been to the darkest corners of the galaxy and back. Maybe there were worse things than destroyed cities lurking out there. She'd never been inclined to find out.

"So, when do I get to meet the great Commander Shepard?" she asked, since he seemed to want to change the subject. He shifted on his feet and turned towards her, leaning back against the railing in front of the window. She kept staring past him, out the window.

"She's on Rannoch, sorting out some dispute between the Quarians and the Geth. I'm sure it's going to take awhile, and then Wrex invited her to Tuchanka... You can't miss a krogan ceremony when you're the guest of honor. Trust me, it's a very bad idea."

"You weren't invited?"

"Oh, I was. I had to check on someone."

"How's that going for you?" said Solana, finally turning her gaze from the city to Garrus.

"I hate to miss out on a krogan feast, all that delicious Tuchanka game..."

"Are you saying I'm an excuse?"

"No, I'm serious. There's nothing like the taste of freshly-scorched varren. It would take something truly important to make me miss that."

Solana gave him a _look._ He would know what it meant.

"Okay, so... maybe I wanted to see you."

"How long are you staying?" Solana asked, changing the subject again when he seemed genuinely embarrassed. Sometimes she could be a merciful sister. It helped that she hadn't seen him in months. It also helped that she'd spent a couple weeks believing he was dead.

"Not long. You know the Council. Can't go three weeks without needing Shepard to clean up their mess."

"You don't have to follow her everywhere."

"Yes. I do." He said it with such simple and deep conviction that Solana immediately lost any desire to argue. Maybe the fact that Shepard was _Shepard_ also made her see it differently. He wasn't off fighting without a real cause anymore. Following Shepard was the very definition of having a real cause.

"Dad's proud of you," she said. She even risked looking at his face to see his reaction.

"You know, humans have a saying about that," Garrus said, calmly looking back at her. She thought she even saw amusement in his expression. "There's a first time for everything."

" _I'm_ proud of you."

Garrus stopped just before he made what was probably some other dry remark. He'd always been good at that, but not so good at a lot of other things when it came to talking. Especially when it came to talking about family. They'd always been close when they were younger, but it was more despite how Garrus dealt with family than because of it.

"I'm proud of you too," he said, after a moment.

"Really? I guess you're right. There's a first time for everything."

"Not everyone has a sister who fought off a Reaper attack and lived to tell about it. More or less," Garrus said, with a nod to indicate her injuries. "Who says I can't be proud?"

"Are you going soft, Garrus?" she teased.

"Only on you, Sol."

"And Shepard, apparently."

"She's different."

"Of course she is." She bumped against his shoulder as she turned around to head slowly back to her room. Even this long on her feet was making her side ache fiercely. There was a first time for everything, but she could happily live with the first time she fought Reaper forces also being the last. "Did you tell her about the time you painted your clan markings orange?"

"Orange is a good color."

"Not on you."

"Same old Solana," said Garrus, with a long-suffering sigh.

"Same old Garrus," Solana replied. She mimicked his sigh.


End file.
